Tiger Woods was back on the PGA Tour for the first time in more than three months Thursday and said he felt "fantastic."

He was talking about his back, not his game.

In his first tournament since his back surgery March 31, Woods made seven bogeys in a first round of 3-over-par 74 at the Quicken Loans National at Congressional in Bethesda, Md. It put him eight shots behind leader Greg Chalmers and in danger of missing the cut for the first time in two years. Only 19 players had a higher score.

"I made so many little mistakes," Woods said, "so I played a lot better than the score indicated. ...

"The back's great. I had no issues at all - no twinges, no nothing. It felt fantastic. ... I hit it pretty hard out there."

Congressional had a lot to do with that. The course played tougher than it did for the U.S. Open three years ago, mainly because of the dense rough.

Chalmers kept it in play for much of his round, dropping only one shot and finishing with three straight birdies. He had 25 putts in building a one-shot lead over Ricky Barnes and Freddie Jacobson. Defending champion Bill Haas and U.S. Open runner-up Erik Compton were two shots back.

Woods wasn't the only player who struggled. He played with Jordan Spieth, who had a 74, and Jason Day (73).

"We were all kind of looking to break 80," Woods said. "It was a bit of a fight today for all of us, but we all hung in there."

Said Spieth: "We saw what happened when he found his rhythm," alluding to Woods making three birdies over his last six holes.

Still drying out after days of steady rain, the par-70 layout offered little resistance. Frost and Garwood breezed through their rounds without making a bogey, and Durant offset his lone bogey with seven birdies.

Colin Montgomerie, the Senior PGA winner last month, opened with a 5-under 30 on the front nine before fading to a 69. Defending champion Kenny Perry, looking for his fourth major title in the last year, had a 70.